LIBRARY OF CONGRESS ^ 



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ADDRESS, 



3DEX.I-VEK.E3D OlST THE TTH JTJXi^ 1858, 



BEFORE THE TRUSTEES 



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Charge delivered by Rev. James Pains, of Somn-ville, Tonu., at tlie InanguratioQ of the PresiJont 
and Professoi-3 of La Grange'Synodical College, July 7th, 1S58. Together 
w ith the Inaugural Address of the llev. J. H. Gray, 
D. D., President of the College. ' 






•f WASH"- 



^MEMPHIS: 

AVALANCHE JOB_^PKINTING AND PUBLISHING HOUSE. 
1858. 



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ADDRESS. 



Trustees, Patro'^ and Friends of the La Grang^^ynodical College: 
It is with extreme diffidence that I rise to address you on the 
present interesting occasion, and upon the deeply momentous 
itAgwe of Education ; d, theme which connects itself with every- 
thing that is great, patriotic and holy, and involves the deepest 
problems in Politics, Ethics and Religion. 

After the eloquent and solemn address which you have heard 
from the appointed organ of the Synod, j^ou can justly appre- 
ciate the magnitude of the interests involved. It is enough to 
make the Faculty tremble under the solemn responsibility. 

It is not our purpose to discuss the abstract question of Edu- 
cation, or the respective duties and rights of the Church and 
State, but to give a brief outline of the argument which justifies 
the Church in her Educational policy, and consequently this 
Synod, in her attempt to endow an Institution for the promotion 
of learning on a Christian basis. 

Originality on such a theme would be impossible, and will not 
be attempted. All that can be done is to collect, arrange and 
present such a train of thought as shall justify our position in 
the eyes of an enlightened and unprejudiced community. 

Our first argument is, that the Church, in all ages, and under 
both dispensations, claimed this right, and, with a greater or less 
degree of fidelity, executed this hallowed trust. 

" It would certainly be a serious thing for the Church either to 
omit a high duty, or to intrude violently into matters belonging 
to other authorities, not less divinely instituted than itself." — 
Such is the language of a learned writer opposed to denominational 
or Church education, yet we adopt it as a correct premiss, and 
shall proceed to demonstrate that she has understood her mission ; 
that she has a divine warrant for her faith and practice. 



4 ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE 

The history of Education has not "been written so clearly that 
we can trace it very continuously to its origin. As far as it has 
been written, it testifies that Education has been guided and con- 
trolled by men in their religious, rather than their political char- 
acter. "Education, as originally designed, was more or less in- 
timately allied with the ancient religion. The Grammarians, the 
Poets, the Orators, the Philosophers of Greece and Rome, were 
the writers whose works were explained and instilled into the youth- 
ful mind. The vital principle, as Julian asserted, in the writings 
of Homer, HesiolP, Demosthenes, Herodotus, Thftcydides, Isocra- 
tes and Lysias, was the ivorship of the Gods. Some of these 
writers had dedicated themselves to Mercury, and others to the 
Muses. Mercury and the Muses were the tutelary deities of the 
Pagan schools." 

The family was the original form of government, and when 
families were united under a common head, and developed them- 
selves into the State, or Civil Society, the Theocratic was the 
prevailing element, and dominant power. It would appear, there- 
fore, reasoning a priori, from the nature of the origin of society, 
that Education would partake more of the moral and spiritual, 
than of the physical and intellectual, and would give a prominence 
to our relations to God and Eternity. Consequently, we find from 
the only authentic history of our race, and the foundation of the first . 
civilized nation on earth, the education of children divinely ap- 
pointed, and their rights solemnly enjoined and enforced. It is 
worthy of notice that the Divine Law-giver enacted and promul- 
gated, first the moral, and afterwards the municipal law. In the 
moral law, our duty to God is contained in the first table. Im- 
mediately after the enactment of the law, the decree goes forth, 
'' These words which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart, 
and thou shalt teach them diligently to thy children." This ordi- 
nance was not limited in its operations to the period of the The- 
ocracy, but was obligatory throughout their entire existence as a 
nation. The character of their educational policy may be inferred 
from the character of their scholars, whose writings have come 
down to us, having outlived the reverses of time. Her sages 
were wiser than the sages of Greece ; her bards and orators have 
not been excelled even in the Augustni age. If time would per- 
mit, we might compare the writings of the Jew with the Greek 



LA GRANGE SYNODICAL COLLEGE. 5 

and Roman. Whose names have eclipsed the fame of Moses, 
Solomon, David, Isaiah, Daniel and Paul? A late and elegant 
writer remarks, "To have written and published in Grreece or 
Rome any one of the thirty -six treatises, which makeup the Bible, 
would have immortalized Solon or Lycurgus, Aristotle or Plato, 
Socrotes or Xenopheme, Seneca or Cicero, Tacitus or Pliny." 

These are the proofs that the schools under the control of the 
Church, in the former dispensation, had no mean, narrow or 
bigotted curriculum, but Avere Avorthy of their divine original. 

Descending the stream of time till we pass the terminus of the 
dispensation of the law and the Prophets, and enter upon the Chris- 
tian era, we find the Church still exercising her divine right of 
supervision over the subject of education. The testimony of His- 
tory is equally clear, consistent and decided. 

Mosheim says, " The Christians took all possible care to accus- 
tom their children to the study of the Scriptures, and to instruct 
them in the doctrines of their holy religion, and schools were 
everywhere erected for this purpose, eveti from the very commence- 
ment of the Christian Church." 

We must not, however, confound the schools designed only for 
children, with the gymnasia or academies of the ancient Chris- 
tians, erected in several large cities, in which persons of riper 
years, especially such as aspired to be public teachers, were in- 
structed in the different branches, both of human learning, and of 
sacred erudition. 

We may undoubtedly attribute to the Apostles themselves, and to 
the injunctions given to their diciples, the excellent establishments 
in which the yuth, destined to the holy ministry, received an edu- 
cation suitable to the solemn office they were to undertake. St. 
John erected a school of this kind at Ephesus, and one of the 
same nature was founded by Polycarp, at Smyrna; but these 
were not in greater repute than that which was established at 
Alexandria, supposed to have been erected by St. Mark. — Mos., 
1st vol., part 2cZ, chap, 3, p. 7. 

This testimony assumes more importance, and gains the strength 
of a demonstration, because it is in accordance with various texts 
of Scripture, especially JEp>h., 4 ch., 11 v. Paul, in enumerating 
the ascension gifts of Christ to his Church, says, "He gave some 
Apostles, and some Prophets, and some Evangelists, and some 



6 ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE 

Pastors and Teachers — see also Rom., 12 cli., 7 v. The Reformed 
Churches, the S^Yiss, French and Scotch understood this, in con- 
nection Avith other simihir texts, as a divine warrant and command 
to supervise the work of education. The Scotch Book of Disci- 
pline says, the office of Doctor or Catechiser is one of the two or- 
dinary or perpetual functions that travel with the Word. They 
are such, properly, as teach in Schools, Colleges and Universities. 

The Westminster Divines say, "the Sacred Scriptures doth hold 
out the name and title of Teacher, as well as Pastor. A Teacher 
or Doctor is of most excellent use in Schools and Universities, as 
of old in the Schools of the Prophets. This testimony is strength- 
ened by the fact that the success and efficiency of these Christian 
Schools aroused the enmity of the Apostate Julian, and he issued 
an edict prohibiting Christians from teaching in the Public 
Schools." Gibbon thus speaks of his policy : 

"Julian invited the rising generation to resort, with freedom, 
to the Public Schools, in a just confidence that their tender 
minds would receive the impressions of literature and idolatry. 
If the greatest part of the Christian youth should be deterred 
by their own principles, or by those of their parents, from accept- 
ing this dangerous mode of instruction, they must, at the same 
time, relinquish the benefits of a liberal education. Julian had 
reason to expect that in the space of a few years, the Church 
Avould relapse into its primeval simplicity, and that the Theolo- 
gians, who possessed an adequate share of the learning and elo- 
quence of the age, would be succeeded by a generation of blind 
and ignorant fanatics, incapable of defending the truth of their 
own principles, or of exposing the various follies of Polythism.'' 

This is indirect and circumstantial, but powerful, testimony to 
the existence and patronage of Christian Institutions. 

When Christianity, under Constantine, became the religion of 
the Empire, then education was fostered by the State, and the 
Professors in the different Sciences becran to be allowed ren;ular 
salaries from the Government, and became objects of public regu- 
lation and discipline. 

The effect of this alliance was as disastrous to science as re- 
ligion; for after a transient and meteor-glow of prosperity, they 
both relapsed into a state of profound formalism, and while the 
body remained, the spirit was fled. 



LA GRAiJGE STfNODlCAL ^COLLEGE. 7 

It is true, that Council after Council enacted decrees, ordering 
Schools to be established in the country towns and villages, yet a 
mental and moral paralysis had befallen the world. Hallam, in 
his History of the Middle Ages, says that, "general ignorance 
prevailed, and lasted for five centuries, during which every sort 
of knowledge was confined almost wholly to the ecclesiastical 
order. Science was indebted for its preservation to the Church." 
Even Hume admits that the Church was the. depository of learn- 
ing in the days of Alfred the Great. He says, " the monasteries 
were destroyed by the ravages of the Danes, the monks butchered 
or dispersed, their Libraries burnt, and thus the only seats of 
erudition in these ages were totally subverted." 

In the year 563, Columba founded a College on the Island of 
lona, in Scotland, which v^as a fountain of light and knowledge 
for many ages, and supplied both England and Scotland with 
Ministers and Teachers. It is supposed that Mosheim refers to 
this College when he says, " If Ave except some poor remains of 
learning which were yet to be found at Rome, and in certain 
cities of Italy, the Sciences seem to have abandoned the conti- 
nent, and fixed their residence in Britain and Ireland. Those, 
therefore, of the Latin Avriters, who were distinguished by their 
learning and genius, were all (a few French and Italians 
excepted,) either British or Hibernians, such as Alcuin, Bedi,' 
Egbert, Clemens, Dungalus, A6ca, and others." The Church 
Avas the depository of the only light of Science and Religion 
which struggled against the Egyptian darkness of the Middle 
Ages. When Ave reach the period of the glorious Reformation, 
the evidence of the agency of the Church in this grand achieve- 
ment, is tAvo overAvhelming to need confirmation. Ignorance and 
superstition alike retire. The School and the Church, Literature 
and Religion, unite in this holy crusade, and go forth to the con- 
quest of the world. It Avould be a Avork of supererogation to 
trace the relation betAveen the Church and Education, from that 
time to the present. 

The Pilgrim Fathers had not been long resident upon this conti- 
nent till they laid the foundation of Harvard. The objects contem- 
plated by the founders, are expressly stated to be, "Piety, Mor- 
ality and Learning." The same motives prompted to the estab- 
lishment of Yale, and Nassau Hall at Princeton, N. J. 



6 ktmm.mmnm mmi m 

So >ve have briefly traced the history of Education, tlnd witli 
some degree of certainty, from the very origin of the Jewish 
polity, through successive ages, clown to the present time, and this 
was our first argument to justify the educational policy of the 
Church, viz : That the Church had always claimed the right, and, 
with a greater or less degree of fidelity, executed the sacred 
trust. In the present century, and in this happy land, an effort 
has been mane to rob the Church of her time-honored rights and 
dignity. The State, like Julian and the Jesuits, has attempted 
the cojitrol of this momentous interest. 

The State is deeply interested in the subject of Education, for 
the intelligence of the people is one of the strong pillars of a free 
Government. Intelligence and virtue are the jDarents of civil 
and religious freedom. 

But the State is also deeply interested in agricultual, mechan- 
ical and commercial prosperity. While it is the true policy of 
the State to encourage and assist, it will hardly be contended 
that it is the function of the State to supervise and control either 
one of these great sources of national prosperity and renown. 
The results of her interference and exclusive jurisdiction in the 
cause of Education, furnishes our second argument. 

Institutions under State patronage and control, by the very 
principles of their organization, are prohibited from the inculca- 
tion of the doctrines of Christianity. 

The Board of Trustees is composed of men of every shade of 
political and religious faith, and for fear of giving offense to some 
political or religious denomination, it is compelled to adopt the 
principle of non-intrusion. Knowing, however, that there is a 
religious sense in the public mind, the Trustees so far consult 
this prejudice as to select, commonly, a 3Iinisier for their Presi- 
dent, and the other members of the Faculty from the prevailing 
denominations in the State. Now, Avhile this is a tacit compli- 
ment to Christianity, it effectually excludes religion, while it bears 
simply the liberal name of non-intrusion. For while the Profes- 
sional corps may all be religious men, their theological differences 
and mutual jealousy, destroy and nullify their religious influence, 
and their entire weight in the College is equal only to their ability 
as a Professor, and not as a Christian. The maxim of Julian's 
policy is carried out. The study of the Heathen Poets, Orators 



LA GRANGE SYNOBICAL COLLEGE. 9 

arid Philoaephers, with all their corrupting and debasing views of 
virtue and the Gods, gives the impress to their faith and practice. 
Such a system cultivates tlie mental, to the neglect of the moral 
sense, and the result is intellectual giants, and moral dwarfs ; a 
race of men unprepared for the solemn responsibilities of living 
or dying. Miserable themselves, and sources of wretchedness to 
others. 

Many persons reject this representation as exaggerated, if not 
false and slanderous, because they have not seen these conse- 
quences. State Institutions may be compared to the tree of 
knowledge of good and evil, very pleasant to the eyes, and a tree 
to he desired to make one wise. The participation of its fruit 
brought sin and death to the world, and with it all our woes 
Sufficient time has not j^et elapsed for their full development. — 
It has been said that a person in traveling in a conveyance, a 
ship or car, that moves Avith equable, but less and less velocity 
will not be sensible that the motive power has been removed un- 
til there is a perfect cessation. The great mass of society is 
under the propelling force of a religious education ; a force in- 
herent in bygone Institutions, but v.'hose momentum is gradually 
diminishing, and hence many are not conscious of the change. 
But only look at the state of society, and you cannot fail to see 
a manifest and sad deterioration in the manners and morals of 
the young. There is a woful and wide-spread disregard to 
parental, and consequently to all rightful authority. The change 
is gradual, but certain and terrible (it is the beginning of this 
system of education). The waters gather^ silently for years 
in the basin of the Alps, trickling down drop by drop, but at last 
they rend the solid mountains, and spread desolation and death in 
their course. So generation after generation may pass away be- 
fore we can discern the ripe fruits of the system of a godless 
education. But it does not require a Prophet's vision to forsee 
what will be the character of a society whose childhood and youth 
have been spent in Institutions where religion has been excluded, 
and who have grown up with a superficial acquaintance with 
Science, and without the inculcation of our saving doctrine of 
Christianity. The experiment has been made in other times and 
other lands In the language of the eloquent Henry, "I have 



10 ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE 

but one lamp by Avliicli m}'- feet arc guided, and that is the lamp 
of experience." I know no way of judging of the future but by 
the past, and judging by the past, what has there been in the 
workings of the Institutions from which the Bible has been ex- 
cluded, which justifies the zeal of the advocates for such a sys- 
tem. One of the most distinguished Philosophers of the present 
day, and a Professor of the University of Paris, fearlessly asserts 
that " a religious and moral education is the first want of a peopZe." 
Bonaparte is reputed to be the author of the following, which 
embodies our principle: "No society can exist without morals, 
and there can be no sound morals without religion. Hence there is 
no firm or durable bulwark for a State but what religion con- 
structs. Let, therefore, every School throughout the land assume 
the precepts of religion as the basis of instruction. Experience 
has torn the veil from our eyes." 

The history of nations teaches this truth, that the education of 
the intellect can never supercede or supply the place of the edu- 
cation of the conscience — that the civilization of wealth and 
knowledge, the diffusion of science, the cultivation of the fine 
arts, does not, and cannot, secure a corresponding development 
of moral civilization. The times and the places, when and where 
knowledge abounded, and a taste for the beauties of art prevailed, 
have not been the times and places where virtue, truth and righte- 
ousness have attained their maximum. Beyond all doubt and 
all comparison, the Greeks excelled all nations of antiquity in 
intellectual attainments, in the power to execute and appreciate 
the beautiful. If it were possible, certainly one might conclude 
that all these imperishable monuments of intellectual greatness, 
would teach and constrain them to shun the base and false, and 
practice the noble and true ; and that all that realization of the 
beautiful with which her Poets and Sculptors overhung her skies, 
as with the splendors of an unfading rainbow, Avould preserve the 
nation from vice, and inspire them with virtue. But what is the 
melancholy fact? What is the record of history ? All the graces 
of poetry and sculpture were insufficient to preserve them from 
moral debasement and national ruin. Rome confirmed this lesson. 
In its infancy it Avas characterized for its manliness and virtue, 
but when the Grecian learning flourished in the Boman Schools, 
and -when Roman literature bloomed out in the Augustan age, 



LA GRANGE SYNODICAL COLLEGE, 11 

their former virtue began to decline. The baser pleasures and 
passions asserted their victory over the enjoyments of the 
intellectual nature, and the Roman, and even the Italian charac- 
ter, became so degraded that through the wonderful vicissitudes 
of its experience for the last 18 centuries, no essential recovery 
has taken place. 

The Italian Republics of the period preceding the Reforma- 
tion, afford still further illustration of the fact, that no intellec- 
tual training can supply to a State the functions of a conscience. 
Every attentive reader of history must remember that the cul- 
minating glory of the Italian art, was coteraporaneous with the 
deepest degradation of Italian manners. 

The history of the period preceding the French Revolution, 
and the Revolution itself, will exhaust the demonstration. It was 
Science that was to introduce the reign of virtue by her analysis, 
she was to bring back the golden age, and deified Reason was to 
shower countless blessings from a cloudless sky. The experimen- 
was made; the problem solved; the answer known, and well 
would it have been for the honor of our common humanity if the 
"recording angel could have dropped a, tear, and blotted it out 
forever." 

Thus, by two separate and independent trains of argument, we 
arrive at the same conclusion, that Education is, and of right 
ought to he, under the supervision of the Church. 

The richest and ripest fruits of Science have been gathered 
from minds nurtured under religious influence. There is no an- 
tagonism between Science and Religion. They are, in fact, twin 
sisters, Avhose blended graces render each more lovely and attrac- 
tive. While we do not impute to our legislators any settled or 
preconcerted purpose to dissociate Science and Religion, or to 
educate our sons without the fear and knowledge of Grod, by ex- 
alting the intellectual, and depressing our religious nature; yet 
8uch is a logical sequence. The moiety of attention given to 
Christianity in the establised curriculum, is often a detriment, and 
not a benefit. It is like a "little learning — a dangerous thing." 
The young and plastic mind concludes that if this brief course 
embraces all that can be said in defense of Cliristianity, its claims 
are scarcely w^orth the attention of men of enlarged and cultiva- 
ted minds ; and hence our sons return from College often skepti- 
cal, if not confirmed, Infidels. 



12 ADDllESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE 

As patriots, therefore, as well as Christians, you ought to re- 
joice that anofJier College has been added to the number of those 
which honor God, by recognizing his Word as a guide to the in- 
tellect, as Yrell as the heart. In a recent lecture of Mr. Layard's, 
delivered in London, in speaking of the Educational policy of 
India, he quotes Dr. Duff, the able, learned and pious head of the 
Scotch Mission, and of the College at Calcutta, as saying, " Only 
save us from one thing; do not let the Government interfere 
with us." 

The Presbyterian Church, ever alive to her solemn trust; 
knowino; her ris-hts, able and willing to maintain them, led the van 
of opposition to the secularization of Education, and restored the 
policy of the primitive Church, by establishing Parochial Schools, 
Presbyterial Academics, and Sjmodical Colleges. In the year 
1739, when the number of Presbyterian ministers was only fifty, 
they initiated measures for the organization of an Institution un- 
der ecclesiastical control, and in 1743 it went into operation un- 
der the administration of Rev. Mr. Alison, at New Lebanon, Pa. 
The Log College, the nucleus of the present College at Prince- 
ton, an Institution second to none in our country, was founded on 
the same principle, and prior to the one at New Lebanon. 

The first Academy in the State of Tennessee v/'as founded in 
1788, by a Presbyterian Minister, the Rev. Dr. Doak, and still 
exists as a chartered institution, under the style and title of 
"Washington College." 

The friends of learning and piety in the bounds of this Synod, 
weighing the responsibility on every hand, after mature and 
prayerful deliberation, resolved that, by the help of God, they 
would rear an Institution at which should be taught, at one and 
the same time, the lessons of revealed truth, and the elements of 
human science. 

These spacious walls, this goodly band of noble youth, and 
these scenes of thrilling interest which have just transpired, are 
the first fruits of that solemn and high resolve. We may con- 
gratulate you, to-day, on the auspicious commencement of your 
undertaking, in the degree of prosperity which has marked our 
progress for the first collegiate year. This success is not referred 
to in a boastful spirit; is not ascribed to the merits of you^. 
Faculty; to their extensive fame and acquirements in literature 



LA GRANGE SYNODICAL COLLEGE. 13 

and science ; but to the special favor of God, to whose honor this 
College was founded and dedicated. 

We assume it as an axiom, that Education is designed to qual- 
ify rational l)cings for their destiny, and if so, it will follow that 
it should be commensurate with, and proportionate to, their posi- 
tion and prospects. 

The son of a King and heir of a throne, should enjoy every 
facility to qualify him for the difficulties, labors and responsibili- 
ties of his anticipated elevation. All our sons are the sons of a 
King, and heirs to a Crown and Kingdom. The Bible is the only 
book, and Religion the only Science, that will prepare them for 
admission to the classes of the blessed. The Bible is not only 
tlie fountain of wisdom, and the text-book of our Science of 
morals, but it is the touch-stone of all Science, for we hold that 
no teachings of Philosophy can be true which conflict with the 
dicta of revelation. It is the " spear of lihuriel, whose slighest 
touch detects and exposes falsehood." 

Patient investigation, and a laborious analysis, make advances*, 
in the Ph3^sical Sciences, and hence old text-books are superseded; 
but Divine Science, being perfect, is incapable of improvement, 
and its text-book, the Bible, never can become obsolete. 

Just as in the illumination of our cities, you may improve and 
advance from the flickering and oiTensive light of the common 
lamp, to the brilliant and cheering splendors of gas ; but there is 
no need, and no attempt to add to the brightness of the day by 
improvements upon the sun. The Bible is the sun of the intel- 
lectual and spiritual vforld. 

III. In conclusion, permit me to call your attention to another view 
of this subject, Avhich justifies the Church in her zeal and vigi- 
lance in the cause of Education; and this is our third argument. 
The Church is justly responsible to her great head for the 
continuation and supply of a succession of able and faithful min- 
isters. In the language of our excellent Form of Government, 
chap. 14, sec. 4, it reads, " Because it is highly reproachful to 
religion, and dangerous to the Church, to intrust the holy minis- 
try to w^eak and ignorant men. The Presbj-ter^r shall try each 
candidate as to his knowledge of the Latin language, and the 
original languages in which the Holy Scriptures were written. 
They shall also examine him on the Arts and Sciences." From. 



14 ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE 

this statute, it is manifest that high literary qualifications are re- 
quired for the ministry. 

It is essential, but does not supply the place of experimental 
religion. Deep, ardent, personal piety is the first and last quali- 
fication. Nevertheless, the statute book requires that " the Priest's 
lips should keep knowledge." Whence, then, shall we derive an ed- 
ucated ministry ? The answer must be: from our Colleges. But,for 
a series of years, the painful truth was standing out before our 
eyes, that the number of candidates for the sacred ministry was 
annually decreasing. This fact, confirmed by the yearly Reports 
of our Board of Education, created a deep impression upon the 
minds of the friends of the Church, and much anxious thought 
and prayerful inquiry as to its cause. 

Among the many causes which contributed to this sad decline 
there can be no doubt that the prevailing system of Education 
exerted a controlling influence. 

Young men generally select their future profession during the 
term of their collegiate course. This choice is the natural result 
of their literary training, their mutual associations. They hear 
from their Professors, and read in their daily studies, of Heroes, 
Orators, Poets and Sages, whose temples were wreathed with the 
unfading laurel, and who received honors almost divine. It is 
not strange that their young, generous and ardent spirits should 
catch the inspiration. These men are, in their estimation, the 
models and standards of human greatness, and hence they copy 
and resolve to tread in the same path that led them to glory. — 
The very air w^e breathe, the state of our country, the genius of 
our free Institutions, all conspire to increase their thirst for fame, 
and to assure them of success, either in the Political, Military or 
Literary world. 

The Heroes, Orators, Poets and Sages of the Bible, are not 
known. There is no one to magnify the office of the ministry, and 
to tell them of the claims of God, and the spiritual wants of a 
dying world — to tell them that honors, bright and lasting, may 
be won in the Pulpit as wxll as the Forum — honors that will 
shine Avith undecaying splendor when the dazzling distinctions of 
this world shall fade away, and be forever forgotten and un- 
known. For they that are Avise, or as the margin reads, teachers, 
shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn 
many to righteousness, as the stars, forever and ever." 



LA GRANGE SYNODICAL COLLEGE. 15 

Where is the Professor in a State Institution, who either from 
the power of love divine or a sense of duty, wouhi ask his class, 
" Who has accomplished most for his land, its warriors and 
statesmen, or the ministers of the Gospel? Who most for 
England, Ed. Burke and W. Pitt, or Geo. Whitefield and R. Hall ? 
Who for Scotland, Roht. Bruce and Wm. Wallace, or John Knox 
and Thos. Chalmers ? Who has done most for the world, Ed* 
Payson or Prince Talleyrand ?" Payson, just as his time of ser- 
vice was about to close, said : ! if ministers only saw the incon- 
ceivable glory that is before them, and the preciousness of it 
they would not be able to refrain from going about, leaping and 
clapping their hands for joy, and exclaiming, I am a minister of 
Christ, I am, &c. Talleyrand Avas in another hemisphere, but 
was the cotemporary of Payson. He was the most distinguished 
man of his age in the political world. He originated and con- 
ducted more important negotiations than any statesman who ever 
lived; he was literally oppressed Avith honors and loaded with 
wealth. The day previous to his death, he left the following 
lines upon his table : " Behold eighty-three years have passed 
away ! What cares ! What agitations ! What anxieties ! What ill 
will ! What sad complications ! and all without other result except 
great fatigue of body and mind, a profound sentiment of discour- 
agement of the future and disgust of the past^ Who is the bet- 
ter model ? Payson or Talleyrand ? 

The want of such teaching, of such appliances, as those in our 
literary institutions, explain the sad decline, in former years, of 
the number of candidates for the ministry. This discovery 
aroused the Church, not only to seek out the cause but to apply 
the remedy. Since the establishment of denominational colleges 
the ranks of the ministry are rapidly filling up. The Pulpit, as 
a field of power, usefulness and honor, has been vindicated, and 
our educated young men are seeking admission in her altars. 

This last argument triumphantly justifies the Church in all the 
educational means she has adopted, and should stimulate her to 
higher aims and nobler efforts in this interesting and momentous 
cause. It is her duty to redeem colleges from the odium that 
has hitherto attached to them, that "they crucify Christ between 
tAvo thieves — mathematics and the classics." She can yet make 
improvements in the science of teaching, baptise it and imbue it 



16 iliAUGURAt ADDRESS H^ J. H. GRAY. 

with a spiritual nature, so that every Professor shall, like the 
harbinger of Christ, point to the Great Teacher, and every stu- 
dent shall he constrained by the power of an inward and irrepres- 
sible conviction to say, I count all things but loss for the excel- 
lency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord. 

This is a work of such diifficulty and magnitude, that it must 
call into requisition the wisest heads and warmest hearts. What- 
ever additional appliances the Trustees, in their wisdom, may 
adopt for the better and speedier attainment of this great desid- 
eratum, the Faculty, to the best of their abilities, will endeavor 
to execute. Then will LaGrange Synodical College be a monu- 
ment to your wisdom and benevolence — a tower of strength to 
the Church, and a fountain of purest blessings to succeeding 
generations. 

(Thanks to the audience for their respectful and patient atten- 
tion. Dismissed.) 



BY 

REV. JAMES PAIIE. 



Gentlemen of the FaGulty : 

As I address you by the appointment of my brethren of the 
Synod, you will not look upon me as arrogating to myself any 
authority or qualification to instruct you, touching the nature of 
the duties and responsibilities of the offices into which you have 
just been so auspiciously inducted. Indulge me, however, while 
I remind you that the duties and responsibilities of the offices 
now assumed, and with which you are now invested, are weighty 
and momentous. To you are committed the cherished interests 
of this infant Institution — of this loved school of our Synod — 
the object of so many prayers and self-denying labors — around 
which so many fond hopes cluster, and to which we look with 
such intense anxieties. 

You have been elected, gentlemen, with great unanimity to 
take charge of this College. And we take pleasure in saying 
that we have the fullest confidence in your abilities and qualifica- 
tions to impart useful knowledge to our sons — to train them for 
much usefulness — to develope by a thorough course of mental 
and moral culture, and the exercise of wholesome discipline, those 
faculties v/ith which God has endowed them. In the performance 
of these arduous duties your intensest energies will be taxed, 
and your highest wisdom called into requisition. But be encour- 
aged, you have the prayers and sympathies of your brethren, 
and I trust for your success they will avail much. 

Let me remind you again, that a College is, or ought to be, a 
religious institution — that your great duty is to teach. Govern- 
ment and discipline are indispensable items or elements in the 
success of any institution, but after all, they are subordinate to 
the master function of teaching. The Great Teacher has com- 



18 CHARGE DELIVERED BY 

mitted this office and interest to the Church, and whatever form 
it may assume, whether it be literary, scientific, or theological, — 
whether it be from the Professor's chair or the Pulpit — the great 
duty of the Church is to teach. The command and the commis- 
sion of the Master is, " Go teach." In teaching, I charge you 
first— 

1. To use unwearied efforts to inspire your pupils with a love 
of learning. Until this is, in a large measure accomplished, 
there will not be that close application to study, that diligence in 
the acquisition of knowledge, or those studious habits formed, 
which are essential elements of success. The most important 
object of education is to develope, exercise, strengthen and direct 
the several faculties of the mind. When these are well disci- 
plined, the acquisition of every kind of knowledge will be easy ; 
without this discipline, the accumulation of stores of knowledge 
will be of little value ; or to speak more correctly, the mind which 
has not been properly trained, is incapable of acquiring the most 
important branches of knowledge. Sir Isaac Newton said, that 
he professed " no uncommon talent beyond an aptitude for pa- 
tient thinking and laborious investigation." But by what educa- 
tional process or appliance is the mind to be developed, disci- 
plined, strengthened, and trained,in order to secure the most 
desirable results ? 

We answer that it has been fully ascertained, that the study of 
the Latin and Greek languages has the best effect, not only of 
exercising the memory, but the judgment, and that the good 
taste of the pupil is most effectually cultivated by a thorough 
acquaintance with the ancient languages. The opinion which is 
hostile to the study of Latin and Greek as a part of liberal edu- 
cation, greatly mistakes the primary objects of education. Keep 
steadily in view the great truth that the great end or design of 
education is not the acquisition of knowledge, but a thorough 
training that will fit and prepare the pupil to acquire useful 
knowledge. The distinguished metaphysician, Dugald Stewart, 
gives a very striking testimony in favor of studying the ancient 
languages. He remarks that during many years employed in 
teaching mental and moral philosophy, he noticed, that such of 
his pupils as had been Avell drilled in the elements of the Latin 
and Greek languages, made the most rapid and solid progress in 



KEV. JAMES PAINE. 19 

the subjects belonging to his department. On the other hand^ 
those who were not thoroughly acquainted with the languages, 
found great difficulty in arranging and classifying their ideas. 
They labored to great disadvantage, learning scarcely anything." 
And so it must ever be with those students who pursue a partial 
or irregular course. Let this College endorse no such procedure. 
The sending out of half educated men must damage your repu- 
tation. Half educated men can never add to your character. 
Besides, the time for the employment of dull axes and blunt 
hatchets is past. Hereafter, men of superficial education and 
meagre attainments, need not expect to rise as did men of this 
description in former times. Pre-eminence in any of the learned 
professions can only be expected now by those who are thorough 
and well-trained scholars. There was a time when there was 
dano;er of the learned lano-nages beino; excluded from a course of 
liberal education. In some colleges the Greek language was dis- 
pensed with and some other substituted in its place. Even Yale 
was moved for a season by this ill-omened and silly conceit. But 
there is reason to hope that on this subject the darkness is past 
and the true light now shineth. 

But again and in the second place — 

2d. In educating, that is, in cultivating, training, exercising 
the mind, require and insist upon a full and thorough course in 
mathematics, as well a§ in physical, mental, and moral science. 
It has become fashionable with certain parties, to praise certain 
systems of education, and certain studies used in education as 
useful, practical, and denounce all other systems and studies as 
antiquated, unpractical, antagonistic to the spirit of the age. 
They regard trades and professions as the main business of life, 
as the chief end of man. They say that education is acquiring 
knowledge for practical life — that the gaining of knowledge is 
education, and that all the knowledge gained in education should 
be practical. In connection with these views, tliese utilitarians 
denounce the dead languages, mathematics and metaphysics as 
studies worse than useless. They are useless because not imme- 
diately applicable to the practical vrorkings of every-day life. 
You need not be told that the gaining of knov/^ledge is not edu- 
cation, although here made synonymous with it. This pitiful cry 
for practical education would destroy all education. That edu- 



20 CHARGE DELIVERED BY 

cation is the most practical and useful which, by a clue course of 
training in the studies indicated, is found to give the fullest de- 
velopment to the faculties of the human mind. Several colleges 
have been carried away with this utilitarian folly, and some have 
with difficulty weathered the storm. We plead for sound classical 
literature and for a thorough training in profound mathematical and 
mental science. We have no sympathy with literary quackery, 
dreamy or transcendental nonsense. In conducting a course of 
liberal education, it is difficult to say how much time should be 
devoted to the languages, the mathematics, the physical and 
mental sciences, and the study of the Bible as a classic or other- 
wise. Each has its rightful claim and each demands serious con- 
sideration. The field of learning has become so extensive that 
every branch cannot be comprehended in a college curriculum. 
And it should be a fixed principle in education not to build a 
large structure on a slender foundation. Solidity and strength 
should never be sacrificed to variety. Some branches of knowl- 
edge must be omitted, or slightly touched, in our literary insti- 
tutions. The rule should be to render the students thorough in 
the elementary and fundamental parts, and to add of others as 
much as can be comprehended in the time allotted to the course, 
still giving precedence to those branches which are the most im- 
portant and useful. But let it never be said of this college as 
Henry Martyn did of his Alma Mater — that there Christ was 
crucified between two thieves, the classics and the mathematics. 
Avoid extremes. Let your motto, if one you must have, be : 
iVee dextrorsum, nee sinistrorsum. An exclusively intellectual 
education is a misdirected education, and leads to ill-proportioned 
attainments in knowledge, and, by a very easy and obvious pro- 
cess, to the contempt of all moral influences. An exclusively 
moral education tends to fatuity and to an ill-balanced growth of 
the mental powers, by the over excitement of the sensibilities. 
An exclusively religious education may, and often does, produce 
fanaticism, — sometimes in the form of Monkery, sometimes in 
the form of Communism, and somxCtimes in the worse form of 
Islamism, if it do not take the directly opposite course and end 
in Atheism. There must be a proportionate enlargement and 
cultivation of the mental, moral and religious affections. The 
annals of the world — the experience of past ages — the events 



REV. JAMES PAINE. 21 

and experience of our own, abundantly confirm all this. Facts 
have everywhere proved that the progress in mere intellectual 
development has been everywhere followed by the progressive 
increase of immorality, insubordination and crime. For it has 
ever been true, that " where great men are wicked there wicked- 
ness is great." 

Now, this college has been erected and inaugurated for the 
purpose of combining a sound literature with moral and religious 
training. Not science without religion, — not religion without 
science, — lut science and religion. This can only be done by a 
sanctified literature and a science baptized in the blood of Calvary- 
Nor do we desire that you should teach an off'ensive sectarianism. 
A narrow, bigoted, exclusive sectarianism is altogether foreign to 
the genius of the Presbyterian Church. The truth is, we 
have nothing to make us sectarian. The Confession of Faith 
simply declares how we understand the Bible. The Shorter 
Catechism and the Bible constitute our denominational ma- 
chinery. As Presbyterians, as republicans, we sing — 

" The Bible is our only creed, 
Our only monarch, God," 

Let the religious instructions which you impart, the doctrines 
and duties which you inculcate, be of that type of living evan- 
gelical piety which have ever distinguished the Presbyterian 
Church. 

To exclude religious instruction from our schools and colleges 
is madness. Religion is infinitely the most important and neces- 
sary part of an education. Leave this out, and it will be doubt- 
ful "whether our schools and colleges will not do more harm than 
good, for sound morality rests upon religion as its only reliable 
basis. The truth is, that no education can be complete, even as 
it relates to the early history of the world, to ancient customs and 
nations, without the instructions of the Bible. The religious is 
the chief element in an education. For it is the religious princi- 
ple that gives vitality to education, that renders it practically 
efficient for the highest good. 

Religion there must be, to teach us our duty to God, our rela- 
tions to eternity — to nerve us to higher and holier efforts and 
aspirations than the rewards of literary fame — to awaken in us a 
consciousness of our spiritual nature and immortal destiny. 



22 CHARGE DELIVERED BY ' 

Religion there must be, and it must hold a prominent place. To 
secure this, the Bible must occupy the foreground. It must not 
be a sealed book — it must not be thrown into a corner. Morality 
cannot be sustained without religion, nor religion without the 
Bible. Rome teaches a religion without the Bible, but what 
kind of a religion is it. It is the religion of ignorance and su- 
perstition — of prayer-books and beads — of credos and ave 
niarias — of form and pageantry, rubricks and rosaries. There 
is no fundamental doctrine of the Bible that Rome has not cor- 
rupted. I rejoice that none of the foul leprosy of Popery is 
found on our garments. You have no facilities, no appliances, 
for the protection of morals apart from the Bible. By faithfully 
and diligently inculcating its great truths, you will secure the 
respect and confidence of an enlightened community — you will 
be instrumental in training, educating men for high and holy ser- 
vice in the world and in the church. What right-minded man 
expects a college to succeed — to prosper — from whose curriculum 
the Bible and the religion of the Bible is excluded. This would 
be to crather grapes of thorns and figs of thistles. The thing 
has been fully tested in many colleges, and in no place with 
fairer prospects of success than in the University of Virginia. 
More than thirty years ago, under the most favorable auspices, 
it flung its infidel banner on the breeze. With magnificent build- 
ings — ample State patronage — with professors of European ce- 
lebrity — Avith the nation's idol as its chief patron, it commenced 
its career. After years of painful trial, it proved a miserable 
failure. Infidelity was "weighed in the balance and found vrant- 
ing." Its policy was wisely abandoned. The Bible, the chaplain, 
the pious professor, took the place of ribald and ruinous skepti- 
cism. I-IoAV is it now? I am proud to say that it stands on the 
foreground of American colleges, vnth more than six hundred 
students — a large number of who.m are followers of the Saviour. 
The separation of religion from secular education is not only 
impracticable, but positively evil. The choice is not between 
religion and no religion, but between religion and irreligion — 
between Christianity and infidelity. " It is all idle," says Mr. 
W^ebster, " it is a mockery and an insult to common sense, to 
maintain that a school for the instruction of youth, from which 



aEV. JAMES PAlNE. 2S 

cKristiau instruction is excluded, is not deistical in its purpose 
and tendency." Again lie says; " It is in vain to talk about the 
destructive tendency of such ; to argue upon it, is to insult the 
understanding of every man. It is mere, sheer, low, vulgar, 
ribald deism and infidelity. It opposes all that is in heaven and 
all that is on earth that is worth being on earth. It destroys the 
connecting link between the creature and the Creator — it opposes 
the great system of universal benevolence and goodness that 
binds man to his Maker." 

A word on Discipline. In every well-ordered society there 
must be rule, authority, government. Do not advertise that the 
government of this college is parental, for in these days that is 
equivalent to no government, except it be that the children gov- 
ern their parents. In the exercise of discipline be kind and 
firm. You have good and wholesome laws — 'See that they are 
observed. Il3q[uire of every student a strict obedience to col- 
lege laws and, regulations. You must preserve good order, and 
insist upon upright, moral deportment. Without these you must 
fail — without these you will look in vain for close application to 
study. Do not hesitate to dismiss from your college any young 
man who is eudangering his moral welfare by the formation of 
bad habits. In no case suffer an idle, disorderly, immoral stu- 
dent to continue in your institution, unless he amend his conduct 
after being duly admonished. Nothing is gained by the reten- 
tion of incorrigible idlers. Send them home. It is better that 
they should loaf at home than about town or college. One idle 
student may do much mischief — produce much disaffection and 
insubordination. " One sinner destroyeth much good." Treat 
your pupils as gentlemen, and if any should not demean himself 
as such, send him home. Yo u must have order. " Order is 
Heaven's first law." You cannot succeed without it, and in order 
to secure it you must exercise discipline. 

Tlius, gentlemen, I have endeavoredto mark out your great and 
glorious work, and have ventured a few thoughts on the best 
means to accomplish it. The blessings Avhich are to flow from 
this college are not the blessings of a day, of a year, of an age 
— but must tell upon eternity. May you be greatly successful 
in accomplishing a great work for the world and for the church. 
And oh ! that this institution may be as a fountain of living 
waters, from which shall go forth many streams making glad the 
city of our God. 



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